


Merry Christmas, Darling

by liveyourstory



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Christmas Fluff, F/M, steggy secret santa 2014
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-03
Updated: 2015-01-03
Packaged: 2018-03-05 01:59:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3100844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liveyourstory/pseuds/liveyourstory
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>'How have we ended up with so many decorations that we can have a specific colour scheme instead of just throwing everything we own onto the tree and hoping for the best?' Steve asked.</i><br/> </p><p> <i>'That is a very good question.' Peggy replied, 'I blame the elves.'</i></p><p>*</p><p>A post CA:tFA AU where Steve survives the war and marries Peggy. December has rolled around and it's time for them to get into the festive spirit!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Merry Christmas, Darling

**Author's Note:**

> Part of the Steggy fandom's Secret Santa holiday exchange: a gift for agenttttcarter on tumblr. Happy holidays!

When Steve got home and opened the front door to the sound of muffled curses from within, he almost considered turning around and beating a hasty retreat before his presence could be noted.

It wasn't that he didn't love his wife – he did, very, very much – and it wasn't that he didn't want to be there for her if she was in distress. It was just that marriage had taught him something that years of getting the stuffing beaten out of him never could: when to pick his battles. Whether it was marriage in general, or specifically being married to _Peggy_ , he couldn't say, but he'd certainly learned that sometimes it was best to keep his distance. Peggy was not the kind of woman who took kindly to a knight in shining armour sweeping in to solve her problems for her, no matter how well intentioned he be.

And yet Steve Rogers was no coward. That, and the tantalising scent of gingerbread wafting down the hallway, made up his mind for him. Curiosity winning out, he stepped inside their house and shut the door on the snow that had been lazily, but steadily, falling for the past few hours, and sighed in contentment as a cosy warmth blanketed him. Peggy must have had the fire going for some time, and he was looking forward to a relaxing evening beside it. At least, he hoped that was how the evening was going to pan out.

Despite his reservations about what he was going to find, as he walked further into the house he couldn't help but grin at the language coming from the living room. He was not the innocent waif people, for some reason, expected him to be, and several years in the army had only taught him new and imaginative ways to curse, but his army buddies had nothing on Peggy Rogers (née Carter). Colourful didn't even _begin_ to describe it.

With only the slightest hesitation, he peered around the doorway...and promptly burst out laughing at the sight of Peggy, surrounded by boxes and tangled in a string of Christmas lights. Not quite the dire situation he'd been expecting to walk in on.

Peggy, stopping mid sentence (which was probably just as well, since Steve wasn't sure he wanted to hear exactly what the decorations were going to get shoved up if they didn't start behaving), glanced up from what looked like an intricate game of cat's cradle. The whole string of lights was somehow looped around her upper body, ending in a huge knot around her fingers.

'You know, I always thought Christmas lights were meant to go on trees, not people.' He couldn't resist the teasing comment, and although Peggy rolled her eyes at him, he could see the threat of a smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

'Now is not the time to be a smart aleck, thank you.' She replied, in that tone of voice Steve still privately referred to as her "schoolmarm voice". Frowning, she went back to trying to free her left hand. 'I've been battling with this stupid thing for the past fifteen minutes and at this rate the whole bloody lot is going to go out the window.'

'We're on the first floor.' Steve reminded her, shrugging out of his coat and unwinding his scarf, leaving both of them over the back of the couch before stepping over the boxes to help untangle Peggy. 'It won't make much of an impact.'

'Yes, well.' Peggy shook her head, flicking her bangs out of her eyes as she held her arms out and let Steve patiently begin to unwind the lights. 'I'm sure I'll feel better for it.'

Steve grinned, carefully laying the lights out on the ground so that they – hopefully – wouldn't get tangled again the instant one of them tried to pick them up. 'So, did you finally get sick of seeing the naked tree?' They'd made plans to put up their Christmas decorations the previous weekend, but only got as far as assembling the tree before one thing or another prevented them from finishing the task.

'Yes, it looks a bit sad at the moment, all bare. I thought it was about time we did something about it.'

'We?' Steve raised an eyebrow. 'Does that mean you're gonna help this year?'

'I help every year!'

The left eyebrow joined the right and Steve levelled his best disbelieving look at Peggy until her facade of annoyance cracked and she laughed.

'Alright, perhaps my definition of help differs from yours somewhat. But you're the one with an eye for this kind of thing, I wouldn't want to take away your fun.' She stretched onto tiptoes to kiss his cheek and, finally free of the string of lights, crouched down by the cardboard boxes to start pulling out the various decorations they'd accumulated over the past few years.

'That's a good excuse.' Steve told her, carrying the lights to the tree in the corner and starting to carefully wind them around the branches.

'I rather thought so.' Peggy agreed, sifting through baubles and tinsel. 'What colours do you fancy this year? Blue and silver? Red and gold? Green?'

'How have we ended up with so many decorations that we can have a specific colour scheme instead of just throwing everything we own onto the tree and hoping for the best?' Steve asked.

'That is a very good question.' Peggy replied, pulling a face at a rather demonic looking rocking horse decoration. 'I blame the elves.'

&&&

An hour or so later, Steve had finally finished picking out his favourites of the decorations and their tree was so longer sad and bare, but nicely balanced with just the right amount of everything that it didn't look too over the top.

Uncurling from her spot in Steve's armchair, where she had watched him and occasionally thrown out helpful comments (which Steve dutifully ignored), Peggy crossed the room to admire his work, leaning into him as he wrapped his arm around her.

She made a point of looking the whole thing over before giving it a nod of approval. 'It looks lovely, darling. Although...'

'Although?' Steve prompted.

'You seem to have forgotten one.' Ducking out from under his arm, Peggy carefully picked her way over to the other boxes of decorations and rummaged through one of them, finally sitting back on her heels with a triumphant 'ah-ha!' and holding out a gaudy decoration Steve pretended to forget every year in the hopes that Peggy actually would.

'It doesn't go with the theme.' He told her, mostly just arguing for the sake of it since he already knew what the outcome of this debate would be.

'Of course it does, stop complaining.' With a grin that told him she knew exactly what he was thinking, Peggy returned to his side and reached up to place the small disc on a branch just below his eye level. Steve huffed a small sigh as it twirled slowly, glinting in the light. He would never understand why his shield had become a popular Christmas tree decoration.

'That looks ridiculous.'

'You wanted my help with the decorating.' She reminded him, patting his cheek with a smug look. 'Well, here's my contribution.'

Steve could only groan in mock despair. 'Your contribution was going to be choosing between the angel or star.'

'Oh, that's an easy decision. We'll go with the star; I always feel sorry for angels on top of trees. It can't be comfortable having a branch stuck up their arse.'

Steve tried not to snort with laughter as he dropped the angel he'd found before back into a box, and picked up the star tree-topper instead. 'Well, when you put it like that. Do you want to do the honours?'

'Alright. Let me just go and get a chair to stand on.' Peggy replied, but Steve caught her wrist to stop her.

'No need.' He said with a smile, passing her the star then turning her around so she was facing away from him, his hands curled around her waist. He walked them both forwards until they were close enough to the tree, then lifted her effortlessly until she could reach to put the star in place. Peggy giggled, feeling a little like a schoolgirl as he lowered her again and she turned in his arms to look up at him.

'You know, I don't think I'll ever get tired of that.'

&&&

Later that evening, Steve found no fewer than five pieces of mistletoe hidden around the house. He took his time honouring that tradition, chasing the taste of chocolate and wine on Peggy's tongue until she was boneless in his arms.


End file.
